Gymnotus ID

[Angelphish]

Just got this from fugupuff and couldn't be happier, but he was unsure of the species. Any ideas?

 

[tlindsey]

Just got this from fugupuff and couldn't be happier, but he was unsure of the species. Any ideas?

I don't know what specie it is but it is awesome looking.

 

[Angelphish]

I don't know what specie it is but it is awesome looking.

Can't argue with that.

 

[kno4te]

My guess would be gymnotus sylvius.

blackbullhead maybe able to help.

 

[Angelphish]

My guess would be gymnotus sylvius.

blackbullhead maybe able to help.

I haven't heard of that species yet, but I'm no expert. I just wanted a knifefish with vertical stripes.

I googled Gymnotus sylvius and that seems right, although I'll wait for others' input.

 

[blackbullhead]

Great looking fish! This may be the newly-described subspecies Gymnotus carapo australis...But I'm told the Gymnotus of Argentina/Southern Brazil/Paraguay are an ongoing puzzle, so it could be something even less known.
It will be interesting to see how its color changes as it grows...some of these southern Gymnotus get a really nice spotted pattern as they grow larger.

 

[Angelphish]

Great looking fish! This may be the newly-described subspecies Gymnotus carapo australis...But I'm told the Gymnotus of Argentina/Southern Brazil/Paraguay are an ongoing puzzle, so it could be something even less known.
It will be interesting to see how its color changes as it grows...some of these southern Gymnotus get a really nice spotted pattern as they grow larger.

What do you look for to ID Gymnotus? To me they all look pretty similar, with the exception some slight color and pattern changes between certain species.

 

[blackbullhead]

What do you look for to ID Gymnotus? To me they all look pretty similar, with the exception some slight color and pattern changes between certain species.

Yeah, a lot of the species are described on the basis of bones or fin ray counts, which we can't see easily...But many still have distinct color patterns or shapes. The tricky part is you have to use the original descriptions because relatively few of the photos online are reliable.

 

[Angelphish]

Yeah, a lot of the species are described on the basis of bones or fin ray counts, which we can't see easily...But many still have distinct color patterns or shapes. The tricky part is you have to use the original descriptions because relatively few of the photos online are reliable.

So I'm not going blind. They're just difficult to ID.

 

[thefredpit]

yup